Vegetable-grinding machine.



Patented 0011.22, 1912.

WJZ'NESSES VETAL ALBERT AND JQSEPI-I V. ALBERT, 0F GARIBOU, MAINE.

VEGETABLE-GRINDING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 22, 1912.

Application filed. March 26, 1912. Serial No. 686,331.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, VnTAL ALBERT and JOSEPH V. ALBERT, citizens of theDominion of Canada, residing at Caribou, in the county of Aroostook andState of Maine, have invented new and useful Improvements inVegetable-Grinding Machines, of which the following is a specification.

Our present invention pertains to vegetable grinding machines; and hasfor its object to provide a simple and inexpensive machine designed moreespecially for grinding potatoes, and constructed in such manner that itis possessed of high capacity and is adapted to be expeditiously andthoroughly cleaned when occasion demands.

Nhile designed particularly for grinding potatoes, the machine may beused to advantage in grinding turnips, carrots and other vegetables, aswill be fully understood from the following description when the same isconsidered in connection with the drawings, accompanying and formingpart of this specification, in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical section taken throu h the center of our novelmachine from t e front to the rear thereof. Fig. 2 is a front elevationof the machine. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section of the machine taken inthe plane of the center of movement of the grinding drum, lookingdownward. Fig. 1 is a section'of a portion of the toothed cylindercomprised in the grinding drum.

Similar numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all ofthe views of the drawings.

In the preferred embodiment of our invention, the casing 1 of our novelmachine is provided in its front wall with a vertically swinging door 2,and a horizontally sliding door 3. The door 2 is designed to affordaccess to the receiving chamber 4 of the machine, and is held closedduring the operation of the machine by a turn-button 5 or any othersuitable means. The door 3 also afiords access to the receiving chamberat and controls the discharge outlet 6 of the said chamber. In otherwords, when the door 3 is closed, the ground potatoes are prevented frompassing through the discharge opening, while when said door 3 is openthe ground potatoes can freely pass from the chamber 1 through theopening 6 and into a receptacle placed to receive the same.

As will be readily understood by reference to Figs. 1 and 3, the chamber1 comprises vertical side walls 8, an upright back wall 9, an uprightfront wall 10, and a bottom wall 11. We would also have it hereunderstood that the said chamber 1 is lined with waterproof materialindicated by 12; the said waterproof material covering the side walls,back wall, front wall and bottom wall of the chamber for a purposeherelnafter set forth. It will also be observed by reference to Fig. 1that the bottom wall of the chamber 4 is inclined sharply downward andforward; the inclination being continued through and beyond thedischarge opening 6 to facilitate the passage of the ground potatoesthrough the said opening and to a receptacle placed to receive theground potatoes.

In the upper portion of the casing is provided a hopper 13. and the backwall 14 of the hopper is inclined downward and slightly forward and hasits lower edge disposed in about the same horizontal plane as the centerof movement of the grinding drum 15. It will also be observed thatcurvilinear guards 16 are provided in the hopper and above the spacesbetween the ends of the grinding drum and the ends of the hopper, with aView to preventing the passage of potatoes through the said spaces. Fromthis it follows that the potatoes when ground can onlv move downwardbetween the periphery of the grinding drum and the lower portion of thewall 14:.

The grinding drum 15 is imperforate and is preferably made up of a shaft17 journaled in suitable hearings in the casing. body 18 fixed on saidshaft. and a sheet metal cylinder 19 surrounding and supported bv thesolid body 18 and having teeth 20 formed by punching it outward atclosely arranged points throughout its area. Obviously the shaft of thedrum may be turned by hand through the medium of a crank, or may beturned by engine power, as may be found most expedient.

In the practical use of our novel machine, both of the doorshereinbefore referred to are closed, and the potatoes to be ground aredelivered to the hopper; the drum 15 being turned in the directionindicated by arrow in Fig. 1. Incidental to said operation it will bemanifest that the potatoes will be ground or reduced to small piecesbetween the drum and the lower portion of the wall 1 1; and it will alsobe manifest that the ground potatoes will gravitate to and collect inthe chamber t. Then when the desired quantity of potatoes is ground, areceptacle is placed below the opening 6 and the door 3 is slid open,whereupon the ground potatoes will pass down the inclined bottom of thechamber 4t and into the receptacle. ll hen necessary, the door 2 may bereadily opened, and then an attendant of the machine can reach inthrough the open ing controlled by said door and move the potatoestoward the opening 6.

By reason of the grinding of the potatoes being accomplished asdescribed. between the periphery of the drum 15 and the lower portion ofthe wall 14:, it will be manifest that all that is necessary to cleanthe machine is to pour water down between the periphery of the drum andthe lower portion of the wall 1%, since when this is done the water willflash the said passage and will also flush and pass freely from the chamher. it will also be manifest that the solid body 18 which is preferablyof wood and fully ccnpies the cylinder 19, precludes particles ofpotatoes or other vegetables getting inside the cylinder. From this itfollows that the machine is adapted to be expeditiously and thoroughlycleaned; also, that there is no place in the machine in which vegetableparticles can lodge and tie compose.

The wall l t is preferably hinged. at 21, and is backed by screws 22,and hence said wall can be adjusted to assure the production of potatoparticles of different sizes.

Having described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure byLetters-Patent, is:

The herein described vegetable grinding machine, comprising animperforate drum having peripheral teeth, a casing, a chamher in thecasing and having a flat smooth and imperforate bottom wall inclineddownward and forward and an unobstructed space intermediate the drum andsaid bot tom wall and also having an opening in its front wall extendingdown to said bottom wall at an intermediate point adjacent the forwardedge thereof, a door for normally closing said opening, a hopper formedin the casing and disposed above said. drum and chamber and having aback wall; the bot tom of the hopper being formed by the said drum, andthe perimeter of the drum being spaced from the said back wall, and adoor controlling an opening in the front wall of the casing and disposedopposite the side and lower portion of the drum.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

VETAL ALBERT. JOSEPH v. ALBERT.

Witnesses HENRY H. J EWELL, GRACE H. JEWELL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

